“Receive the Holy Spirit”

Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021

Read John 20:19-22

Just three days after Jesus met with his disciples in an upper room for the Last Supper (Mark 14:14-15), he appeared to them again in a room where they were hiding in fear. It may even have been the same room. With his coming, their fear and grief were turned to peace and joy in the assurance that he had risen from the dead (19-20). But Jesus appeared to them not only to encourage them but also to commission them: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (21), just as he had emphasised to them at that farewell meal (15:18-20; 17:18).

In sending out the disciples to continue his work, they would not be on their own. On the eve of his death, he had promised that the Holy Spirit would be with them and in them (14:16-17), enabling them to testify about Jesus (15:26-27). Now, on the evening of his resurrection, Jesus reminded them not just of their forthcoming mission but also of the Spirit who would make it possible – “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (22).

It was on the day of Pentecost that the Spirit came, and that would be the start of their witness (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:4-5,8). His breathing on them was symbolic of the coming of the Spirit (cf. Ezek.37:9,14), underlining that through his resurrection that was now imminent (Acts 2:33). Just as the washing of the disciples’ feet (13:8) had been an acted parable of their cleansing, Jesus’s breathing on them in this way, three nights later, was an acted parable of the empowering of the Spirit which they would soon receive. Both forgiveness and the Holy Spirit are God’s free gifts to all who believe in Jesus, gifts which are received daily by faith in him (Col.2:6-7).